Written Answers Wednesday 27 August 2008

Scottish Executive

Hospital-Acquired Infection

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to have in place a reporting system on Clostridium difficile for each hospital and when it will be available on the internet.

Nicola Sturgeon: All diagnostic laboratories will have access to the ECOSS (Electronic Communication of Surveillance in Scotland) web-based system by end of October 2008.

  A web-based system of reporting is a central feature of our plans to improve surveillance procedures and reporting systems across all NHS boards, as set out under the surveillance section of our new national action plan in response to the recommendations arising from the publication of the Health Protection Scotland Report on Review of Clostridium difficile Associated Disease Cases and Mortality in all Acute Hospitals in Scotland from December 2007 - May 2008 and the independent review Report on the Clostridium difficile Outbreaks at Vale of Leven Hospital. The national action plan is available from the HAI Task Force website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/NHS-Scotland/19529/2005/actionplans.

Maternity Services

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the recommended staffing needs are to accompany women during transfer to hospital maternity units, irrespective of labour status.

Nicola Sturgeon: NHS boards are expected to have in place local guidelines for the safe transfer of women during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal period, which should be in line with national policy, as set out in A Framework for Maternity Services in Scotland .

  Principle 21 of the framework recommends that maternity services should agree arrangements for both in-utero transfer and the transfer of a recently delivered mother and/or her newborn baby to a linked secondary or tertiary unit.

Maternity Services

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the current level of 335 available staffed neo-natal cots in Scotland is sufficient to meet the current level of demand.

Nicola Sturgeon: The findings of the initial testing of the neo-natal workload and workforce planning tool across Scotland indicated that there were adequate cots within NHSScotland, however they were not necessarily the right mix or in the right place.

  The neo-natal sub group of the Maternity Services Action Group is currently carrying out a comprehensive review of neonatal services in Scotland. Findings of the review will be used to inform future maternity policy. The Scottish Government will consider the findings of this report upon completion.

NHS Funding

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the health funding per head of population is in (a) Orkney, (b) Shetland, (c) Western Isles and (d) the Argyll islands.

Nicola Sturgeon: Health expenditure per head of population in 2006-07 was as follows:

  

 NHS Orkney
£1,955


 NHS Shetland
£1,799


 NHS Western Isles
£2,253



  Health expenditure per head of population for the Argyll islands is not available.

NHS Funding

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the Distant Islands Allowance is compensated for in the formula for allocating funds to island NHS boards.

Nicola Sturgeon: The funding for hospital and community health services and GP prescribing is determined by the Arbuthnott formula. This formula is designed to take account of any unavoidable excess costs of supplying services to a board’s population, including the Distant Islands Allowance. Under Arbuthnott and the revised NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee formula, the island NHS boards receive higher cost adjustments than any of the mainland boards, reflecting their unique position and costs pressures.

NHS Funding

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how funding is calculated for island NHS boards and what additional costs are envisaged in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11.

Nicola Sturgeon: The funding for hospital and community health services and GP prescribing is allocated to the 14 mainland and island NHS Boards via the Arbuthnott formula. The formula determines the share of funding received by each board based on the relative need for health care services of their population, adjusted for the unavoidable excess costs of supplying services to them.

  For hospital services, the Arbuthnott formula includes an adjustment based on the relationship between the costs of delivering services and an indictor of remoteness. The costs are based on the ratio between a board’s actual expenditure and what their expected expenditure would be if they delivered services at the national average cost. The remoteness indicator is based on the number of road kilometres per 1,000 people. For community health services, the adjustment is based on a combination of a model that simulates travel times and costs in different geographical areas and the costs of providing services in remote general practices. Due to their relatively small size, the island boards receive a uniform remoteness adjustment.

  The Arbuthnott formula has recently been reviewed by the NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) and their revised formula will operate from 2009-10. The revised excess costs adjustment for hospital services takes account of the difference between delivering a given service at national average costs and the actual local cost. NRAC took account of concerns raised by rural NHS boards by including two separate categories for island towns and island rural areas in their costs adjustment. This will help to ensure that the particular issues related to delivering services on islands are fully recognised. The island categories receive the highest cost adjustment of any category of residence used in the proposed formula. The community services adjustment was updated to reflect up to date data.

NHS Staff

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies exist for nurses in maternity units, broken down by NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: Information on nurse vacancies in maternity units is not centrally held. Data is available for midwifery staff vacancies by NHS board. This includes registered and non-registered staff. Latest data is at 30 September 2007.

  Total Midwifery Vacancies by NHS Board as at 30 September 2007

  

 
 Hospital
 Community


 NHS Borders
 0.6
 0


 NHS Fife
 1.6
 0


 NHS Lothian
 3.4
 2.1


 NHS Highland
 1.0
 0


 NHS Grampian
 16.2
 3.3


 NHS Orkney
 0
 0


 NHS Tayside
 4.0
 0


 NHS Western Isles
 0
 0


 NHS Shetland
 0
 0


 NHS Ayrshire and Arran
 0
 3.0


 NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 32.0
 0


 NHS Lanarkshire
 0
 0


 NHS Forth Valley
 4.8
 0


 NHS Dumfries & Galloway
 0.6
 0


 Total
 64.2
 8.4



  Source: Information Services Division Scotland (ISD).

Nutrition

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take up the European Commission’s School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme funding and, if so, how much will be involved.

Adam Ingram: The European Commission has put forward a proposal to the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament for a European Union-wide scheme to provide free fruit and vegetables to school children. A decision on whether the scheme will go ahead is expected by the end of the year. We are awaiting the outcome of this decision. More information on the proposal can be found on the European Commission website at:

  http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/markets/fruitveg/sfs/index_en.htm.

Pre-School Education

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-13883, S3W-13884, S3W-13998, S3W-13999, S3W-14000 and S3W-14001 by Adam Ingram on 13 June 2008, what the ratio of pupils receiving nursery education from a qualified teacher to those not receiving nursery education from a qualified teacher is in (a) West Dunbartonshire, (b) East Dunbartonshire, (c) Renfrewshire, (d) Inverclyde, (e) East Renfrewshire and (f) North Lanarkshire.

Adam Ingram: Figures from the 2007 pre-school and childcare census show that the ratio of children attending pre-schools with a General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) registered teacher to those attending pre-schools without are as follows for each of the six local authority areas the member enquired specifically about:

  

 West Dunbartonshire
 0.2


 East Dunbartonshire
 1.1


 Renfrewshire
 0.8


 Inverclyde
 1.1


 East Renfrewshire
 4.7


 North Lanarkshire
 0.9



  It should be noted that these figures show numbers of children attending pre-school centres with a GTCS registered teacher, not simply numbers of children who receive education from a teacher. These figures do not necessarily capture teachers who are centrally employed by the local authority but support a number of centres on a peripatetic basis.

  The 2008 pre-school and childcare statistics will be published on 17 September 2008 and for the first time will include specific information on the number of children receiving pre-school education from a qualified teacher during census week and will also capture more information about teaching input delivered on a peripatetic basis. This will be presented at a local authority level.

Sport

Elizabeth Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many playing fields there (a) are and (b) were in May 2007, broken down by local authority area.

Elizabeth Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many playing fields have been developed on since May 2007, broken down by local authority area.

Elizabeth Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cheap lets have been made available to sporting and activity groups in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Stewart Maxwell: This information is not held centrally.

Swimming Pools

Elizabeth Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities provide free year-round access to council swimming pools.

Stewart Maxwell: This information is not held centrally.